


Illuminate

by gentledusk, littleliontree (gentledusk)



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: X & Y | Pokemon X & Y Versions
Genre: Family, Family Feels, Ficlet Collection, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-10
Updated: 2015-07-10
Packaged: 2018-04-08 15:17:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4310160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gentledusk/pseuds/gentledusk, https://archiveofourown.org/users/gentledusk/pseuds/littleliontree
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fragments of Meyer's life, and the thoughts and emotions that come with it</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Weak

**Author's Note:**

> These are little things I've written on my Meyer blog, lemonaidme, in response to meme prompts. Maybe there will be more in the future?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: An occasion where my muse has felt weak

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lumi is Meyer's Ampharos, named after the Lumia lemon. Tarocco is his Blaziken, named after the variety of blood orange.

He knows that he can’t protect his kids from everything, no matter how hard he tries.

He knows this, and yet it still feels like a punch to the gut when Clemont comes home crying one day because of bullies, or when Bonnie nearly falls off the bike she’s just learning to ride. But home is always a safe place to patch them up and hug them better, to make them their favourite foods and listen to their troubles, to tuck them in and kiss them goodnight.

And then the kids stop coming home all the time, and he _knows_ Clemont is a gym leader and mature for his age, and he _knows_ that Bonnie has her big brother to look out for her and that she’ll look out for him as well, but they’re still so _young_ in his eyes, young enough that he wants to hold them close and shield them from every nasty thing the world might throw at them. But he knows that would make them unhappy, and how that wouldn’t be fair to them, stifling them like that, preventing them from finding their own way in life. 

He knows all this, but it doesn’t make the worry go away, doesn’t alleviate the sense of emptiness he gets sometimes when he’s at home without them at the end of a long day. He doesn’t know if they’re happy out there, or sad, or hurt, or even safe. And he trusts them, he _does,_ but he doesn’t trust the people out there, the world out there, to not be too harsh on his babies. Because that’s what they are to him, no matter how old they get. His precious children, the lights of his life. The ones who he can’t protect from everything, because that would be impossible and overbearing and he’s probably just being paranoid again. His children are perfectly safe and sound out there on their journeys. Probably. Maybe. They have their friends with them too, right? Still, they’re all just a bunch of young kids…

He sighs and lets his forehead thump against the living room wall, squeezing his eyes shut. One hand finds its way to where he keeps his Keystone, fingers closing around the smooth surface like it contains the answer to all his problems. When he opens them again, Lumi is standing next to him with bright, inquisitive eyes, holding up his distinctive Blaziken Mask costume. She always does seem to know when he’s in one of these moods.

“Thank you,” he murmurs, patting her affectionately on the head before heading over to his room to change. The costume fits like a second skin over his body, and he stands straight and tall as he slides the mask over his face. It’s a lovely night for disappearing into, and a routine patrol would do him good right now. 

Maybe he can’t always protect his kids, but he can be there for him, in his own special way. And he can damn well do his best to make sure the city is a safe place for them to return to.

 


	2. Childish

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: An occasion where my muse has felt childish

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Teresa is the name I gave to Clemont and Bonnie's mother (and in my headcanon, Meyer's ex-wife) because of the Femminello St. Teresa lemon. In my headcanon, they divorced amicably and stayed friends, but this is set soon after the divorce, when the kids were younger, so Meyer is still feeling a little melancholy about it.

He takes the kids to Ambrette Town and the Muraille Coast one day. It’s their first family holiday like this, just the three of them. He’d be lying if he said that his heart doesn’t ache a little at the lack of Teresa by his side. He’s not _in_ love with her anymore, but he still loves her, still remembers what it was like to be held by her, to see her eyes soften whenever she saw their kids. Some days, he just wants to curl up with Lumi like he did when he was a child, to go running back to his parents and have them hug away his unshed tears. But he can’t do that now, and certainly not in front of the kids. He has to be strong for them. He has to be their big strong papa.

It’s hard not to cheer up a little, though, when he sees the way Bonnie’s eyes widen at her first view of the ocean, and the way Clemont is excitedly rambling on about an invention he has planned to measure… salinity? Something to do with conduction? (He’s always maintained that his son is much smarter than he is, despite the age difference.) They go to the Ambrette Aquarium first, the kids pressing their faces against the glass, ooh-ing and ah-ing at all the water Pokémon in sight. They go out for lunch and ice cream after that, Bonnie cackling when Clemont gets some on his nose, then shrieking as Clemont gets back at her by poking her in the sides. It’s hard not to smile in the face of their unbridled enthusiasm.

When they go to the beach, Clemont, as predicted, sits on the towel in the shade of the beach umbrella, tinkering with the invention he’d mentioned earlier. Meyer sprays him (and Bonnie) down with sunscreen anyway. Bonnie sits nearby on the sand, building a (rather lumpy, but still beautiful) sand castle, occasionally making trips to the water with her bucket to fill the moat or getting up to hunt for rocks to decorate with. Eventually, Meyer, wondering if Clemont will ever actually, you know, do _beach things_ , shakes off the sand that Bonnie has attempted to start burying him in (she pouts at him in protest) and grabs his son by the shoulder.

“Come on, son! We don’t get to go to the beach every day, you know! Don’t spend all your time doing something you could do at home!”

“But daaaaad,” Clemont whines, not even looking up from his device. “I’m almost done!”

“And you can continue that _after_ you’ve had some fun in the sun!” he replies, pulling Clemont up to his feet and pushing him towards the water.

Bonnie grabs hold of her brother’s arms and starts pulling him, never one to miss a chance to tease Clemont. “Come on! Play with us, play with us!”

Somehow, it all ends up with Clemont soaking wet, tackled right into the water by Bonnie. He emerges gasping for breath, shaking his head like a wet Furfrou, while Bonnie emerges laughing, immediately sending a torrent of splashes at him. Clemont sputters as Meyer joins in as well, sending miniature waves at him and little flicks of water at Bonnie that she shrieks at and pops back underwater again to dodge. Even Lumi, probably woken up by all the noise they’ve been making, has decided to join in (or at least watch), leaving her warm comfy spot on the sand by the beach towel to sit by the water’s edge.

He can forget about his troubles like this, he thinks, here with his kids having the time of their lives (well, Bonnie seems to be, at least) and the sun shining down on warm sands and sparkling waters. He can forget them, when he’s suddenly tackled by both his children at once and falls backwards, gasping, into the water, submerged in muffled laughter and breath leaving his lungs and the beating of his own heart. He closes his eyes, spreads his limbs, and lets himself slowly float to the surface, scattered thoughts and bubbling emotions dripping off his skin.

“Daddy! Clemont’s trying to get away!” Bonnie cries, drenching Clemont with a child-sized tidal wave once again.

He can forget, he thinks again, flashing his kids the biggest, sunniest grin ever as he scoops Bonnie up onto his shoulders and starts chasing his son, loud, bellowing laughter mixing with Bonnie’s higher-pitched giggling and Clemont’s sputtered protests. He can forget that earlier, he wanted nothing more than to gather the kids up in his arms and cry like a little boy. Out of heartbreak or out of sheer joy at seeing his kids happy, he’s not sure which. He’s not sure it matters now, anyway. But when they eventually get out of the water and dry off, Lumi is there, holding out her short arms to him and waving them pointedly until he relents and gives her a great big hug, just like the ones he used to give his parents when he was small. Bonnie joins in too, latching on to their sides, and somehow they convince Clemont to join in too, and Meyer swallows the sudden lump in his throat and hugs his family with all his might.

He’ll be ok, he thinks. And he’s going to do his best to make sure that his kids have the chance to enjoy the carefree childhood he never had, despite their parents’ fairly recent divorce. They’ve got him, and Lumi, and Tarocco (even if they don’t know it), and even their mother, though she won’t be living in their home anymore. They’ll still be able to see her.

Everything will be ok, he thinks, as he finally fails to hold back the tears and they stream freely down his cheeks.

“Daddy, why are you crying?” Bonnie asks, tilting her head to see his face better. “I thought beaches were places to have fun!”

“I’m crying because… ” he says, pausing, and then bursting into theatrical sobs. “Because my beautiful children are having so much fun! I’m so happy I get to witness this wonderful moment!”

“Dad, please,” Clemont says, sighing as he pulls back from the hug. The exasperated expression on his small face nearly makes Meyer burst into hoots of laughter, despite everything.

He’ll be ok, he thinks, watching Lumi give Bonnie piggyback rides up and down the beach and Clemont retreating back to the shade of the umbrella to resume working on his invention.

They’ll be ok.

 


End file.
